Originally posted by ^tamago^:
08 June 2007
[b]GAME OVER
More bowling alleys declare...
POPULAR bowling venues Victor's Superbowl and
Superbowl Marina South will be closing by the end of this
year.
By Liew Hanqing
POPULAR bowling venues Victor's Superbowl and Superbowl Marina
South will be closing by the end of this year.
This will bring the number of bowling alleys that have closed - or
will be closing - to at least four, if not six.
Most of them have no plans to reopen elsewhere.
Already closed are Cathay Bowl at the Grassroots' Club which shut
down last May, while Pocket Bowl at Katong Shopping Centre closed
down this February.
Plaza Starbowl at Textile Centre in Jalan Sultan and Kim Seng
Starbowl in Kim Seng Plaza may also close.
Kim Seng Plaza was sold en bloc earlier this year, while a source
told The New Paper that Plaza Bowlers' Club, which trains at Plaza
Starbowl, has already been asked to move to a new venue.
Various reasons were cited for the closures. But no-one said it was
a sign of a drop in popularity of the sport.
REDEVELOPMENT
The two bowling alleys in Marina South are closing their doors in
line with the redevelopment of the Marina Bay area.
Mr David Ang, manager of Victor's Superbowl, confirmed that the
32-lane bowling alley's lease will expire next January.
He said: 'We'll have to dismantle the bowling alley before
that.'
A spokesman for Superbowl Holdings said that Superbowl Marina South
- located just across the road from Victor's Superbowl - may shut
in late November.
The management of Starbowl did not want to confirm the closures of
both Kim Seng Starbowl and Plaza Starbowl.
While there may be some impact on the sport, the bowling fraternity
is not too concerned.
Mrs Jessie Phua, president of the Singapore Bowling Federation,
said that the closure was timely as there has been an over-supply
of bowling lanes in recent years for leisure bowlers.
She cited the development of bowling facilities in private clubs as
an increasingly common phenomenon.
'These facilities are provided as a service to club members and
will not be available to the public,' she said, adding that 'this
may be an indication of where the market will shift'.
However, she fears that the closure of these bowling alleys - all
key venues for competitive training - will impact development
programmes.
'We will probably have to re-think the way bowling is developed as
a competitive sport here,' she added.
She felt the closure is not an indication that the popularity of
the sport is waning here.
POPULARITY NOT DECLINING
She said: 'More than 250 kids showed up for the tryouts for our
Centre of Excellence for Bowling, an event which had minimal
publicity - so I don't think it reflects the declining popularity
of the sport.'
To minimise the impact, Mrs Phua said that the federation is
working on engaging more private clubs to come on board to provide
venues. (See report above.)
Mr Kenneth Chua, 43, the owner of Ken Pro Shop at Victor's
Superbowl, is one of the key tenants who will have to move.
He is relocating to Kallang Bowl at Kallang Leisure Park in
October.
He said: 'Naturally I'm sad - there are so many memories
here.'
He took over from the previous owner in 1994 and has since become
one of the ball drillers of choice for many of Singapore's bowling
elite, including national bowler Rena Teng and former national
bowler Andrew Fang.
Mr Chua said: 'It's a pity that we're losing such important
tournament venues.'
Victor's Superbowl has hosted international events such as the
Santa Claus Open, while Superbowl Marina South hosted the 1991
FIQ/WTBA World Championships.
Kim Seng Starbowl once housed the now-defunct Singapore Bowling
Academy, which used to be the national bowling team's training
venue.
Schools look further for other
lanes
WITH the closing of the bowling alleys, there
may be a short-term shortage of lanes, said veteran bowling coach
Denny Koh, 58, who coaches Catholic Junior College.
He said: 'Ideally, there should be bowling alleys evenly spread
across the country - but now so many of them in the central area
are closing down.
'Now, schools which used to train in the central zone may have to
move to the East, where there are more bowling alleys.'
Top bowling schools like Anglo-Chinese School (Independent),
Methodist Girls' School and Raffles Girls' School started their
training programmes at Victor's Superbowl in the mid-90s when
bowling was first introduced as a competitive sport in
schools.
Victor's Superbowl and Kim Seng Starbowl were also once venues for
the National Schools' Bowling Championships.
Some school teams have also started training in private bowling
alleys instead of commercial ones.
They pay about $8 an hour per lane.
Victoria Junior College and Chung Cheng High School (Main) teams
train at the Chinese Swimming Club, while Singapore Polytechnic and
Ngee Ann Polytechnics' teams train at the Singapore Polytechnic
Graduates' Guild Clubhouse.
The teacher-in-charge of a secondary school team, which now trains
at Kim Seng Starbowl, said: 'There's definitely going to be a mad
rush as schools fight for limited lanes for training.
'As far as location goes, Kim Seng was probably one of the most
central venues.
'Now, we may have to venture as far as Yishun or even Jurong East,
which is a major inconvenience.' [/b]
oomg victor's closing!!!!!!wth...and where was this article
from? lol they interviewed my school's coach(cjc)...
